'CAT paper may be easier than last year'

More tips by experts and toppers
CAT 2004 topper, Devashish Chakravarty
IMS Head Gejo Srinivasan
Career counselor Arindam Lahiri

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New Delhi: Over 1.75 lakh candidates will appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT) on November 19, 2006. For candidates who want to know what to do at the eleventh hour, Managing Director of Career Launcher Gautam Puri has tips on planning, time management and group discussions.

CAT keeps on changing the perspective of the question paper every year dramatically. What is your prediction for this year’s CAT? (Adesh Puri, Mumbai)

Ans: Given the fact that last year’s CAT paper was very tough and the scores fell down significantly, I feel the paper would be less difficult this time. IIMs have decided to give half-an-hour extra for the exam, stretching the exam duration to three hours. Beyond that I don’t think we can predict anything.

How much weightage is given to permutation combination and probability chapters? I find them extremely difficult, so can I skip these chapters? (Amit Arora, Faridabad)

Ans: You can leave these chapters, however, when you are preparing for XAT-the XLRI entrance paper-please go through permutation, combination and probability questions thoroughly because there you can expect question worth 8-10 marks.

When you look at the Maths portions in CAT, it strictly speaks of the Class IX or Class X syllabus-something that can be handled without much difficulty. But XAT, the XLRI paper, covers higher-level question comprising comprehensive probability, permutation and combination questions.

What percentile do I need to score to get a call from IIMs? (Sabyasachi, Agartala)

Ans: Calls are given on the basis of percentiles of the score that an individual has got in the CAT. To get a call from IIMs, your percentile aggregate must be at least 98.5 percentile; otherwise you don’t stand a chance of getting into the IIMs.

If you are looking at the other top ten institutes like MDI Gurgaon, or SP Jain Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, even the worst case scenario is going to be beyond 95 percentile. Anybody with less than 95 percentile doesn’t stand the chance of getting into the top ten institutes. For IIM specifically it has to be at least 98.5 or closer to 99 percentile.

Please suggest me the books that I can consult at this hour to prepare for CAT’s ‘Quant’ section. (Sailaxmi, Hyderabad)

Ans: I would suggest you don’t do anything new. Just pick up the mock CAT papers that you already have and revise them. One week is a little less time to start with anything new. Just focus on what you know, revise a lot for the next one-week with whatever material you have. Don’t start anything new.

Does any IIM have courses on micro financing? Do IIMs prefer people who have experience in the industry? (Deepankar Sen, Kolkata)

Ans: Though there are no specific courses for micro financing in any of the IIMs, this is a specialisation that you do post-IIM, that is towards the completion of your MBA degree. When you are looking at getting into the IIMs, you will not get any benefit of having a prior industry experience until of course you clear CAT with at least 90 percentile score.

Only when you reach the group discussion or the interview stage that is when a person who has prior work experience gets an edge over others. He is better equipped to handle a group discussion, interview and personality assessment stage.